Appia Rare Earths & Uranium Corp. (CSE: API | OTCQX: APAAF) (“Appia”) now has 4 rare earths/uranium projects globally. Today we take a look at Appia’s newly acquired PCH Project (agreement to acquire 70%) in Brazil and give an update on Appia’s Alces Lake rare earths Project in Northern Saskatchewan, Canada.
PCH Project (Brazil)
Appia announced in June 2023 that they had signed a Definitive Agreement to acquire up to a 70% interest in the PCH Project (subject to certain conditions). The PCH Project is 17,551 hectares in size and located within the Goiás State of Brazil. It is located ~30 km from Iporá, a medium size city of ~31,500 population, where infrastructure is well developed.
Sampling data shows enrichment in rare earth minerals from between 8 meters and 20 meters depth in ionic clay ore. Ionic adsorption clays are the main source of the critical rare earth permanent magnet metals, dysprosium and terbium. These projects are also rare outside of China.
Appia states:
“The positive results of the recent geochemical exploration work carried out to date indicates the potential for REEs and Niobium within lateritic ionic adsorption clays.“
Appia also states:
“Total REE grades in numerous auger holes drilled range up to 16,648 ppm (1.66%), with an average of 1,291 ppm total REE and importantly, the valuable rare earths used in magnet applications (Pr, Nd, Tb and Dy) + Y account for approximately 14% of total rare earths, with a maximum of 28.4%.“
The higher the valuable rare earths percentage the better. Appia state above 14% and in their latest presentation they state it as “an average value of 16.67%.“
This is a reasonable figure, especially when considering the shallow depth and the lower mining costs in Brazil. The deposit could potentially be mined with low-cost open pit mining techniques and processed using simple technologies.
Other key points of the PCH Project according to Appia are:
- “One of a few major ionic clay projects in the western world
- Easy to mine
- Simple processing
- Low radioactivity
- Low CapEx
- Low OpEx
- Environmentally friendly processing
- Near infrastructure
- Mining friendly jurisdiction
- Heavy and light critical rare earth.”
The PCH (ionic clay rare earths) Project in Brazil (Appia has an agreement to acquire 70%)
Source: Appia company presentation – June 2023
An update at Alces Lakes – Discovery of the new high-priority surface showing called the ‘Jesse Zone’
On June 22 Appia announced the completion of a NI43-101 Technical Report for their 100% owned Alces Lake Rare Earth Project in the Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan, Canada. The Project is best known for having one of the highest rare earths grades (16.65 wt% TREO) globally of any project as well as being found in monazite ore which is amenable to processing.
Appia also gave a June 16 update on the Project stating:
“Early successes by our prospecting teams have led to the identification of a new high-priority surface showing called the ‘Jesse Zone’ which was discovered on the first day of field prospecting,” stated Stephen Burega, President. “The prospecting team have now identified anomalies along the regional shear zone with biotite-rich pegmatite showings of up to 21,000 cps (counts per second) and the zone appears to be +85m in strike length and +20 m in width at surface.”
The Jesse Zone is giving high scintillometer readings (measured in counts per second) which are a good pointer towards the monazite rich zones that hold the rare earth mineralization. The Appia team believes that the numerous surface showings may be connected under overburden. Detailed mapping and sampling continues at the Jesse Zone to confirm the full extent of this new zone.
Appia’s four projects description summary – Alces Lakes (Saskatchewan, Canada), Elliot Lake (Ontario, Canada), Loranger (Saskatchewan, Canada), and now the PCH Project (Brazil)
Source: Appia company presentation – June 2023
Closing remarks
Appia has now grown to own (including the 70% agreement to acquire the PCH Project) four significant rare earths/uranium projects globally. The very high grade Alces Lakes continues to be the flagship but now the new Brazil Project adds further to their portfolio. It also gives Appia a chance to significantly accelerate towards being a global rare earths producer at some point in the future.
Appia Rare Earths & Uranium trades on a market cap of only C$20 million.
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